Director, Strategic Implementations

About the role

Great Gray is looking to add a Director, Strategic Implementations to lead the most complex, high-profile customer implementations across our business. We deliver bespoke implementations of our technology suite to our premier customers—building innovative solutions with our existing technology to meet unique and critical needs. These engagements span multiple functions and require a single, accountable owner to manage them end-to-end. The Director, Strategic Implementations owns and manages custom and complex customer implementations from scoping through delivery, acting as the primary point of contact for the customer.

Location

This position is based in our Boston, MA office. Great Gray supports a hybrid work model with 4 days onsite and 1 day remote. This role requires a willingness to travel as needed to support customer commitments. Visa sponsorship or transfer is not available; applicants must be authorized to work directly for any employer in the United States without visa sponsorship.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage the end-to-end delivery of complex and customized customer implementations of Great Gray's SaaS technology suite, serving as the primary point of contact and ensuring alignment with timelines, requirements, and goals of internal and external stakeholders.
• Scope implementation requirements and establish detailed, actively maintained project plans, including meeting agendas, action items, and status updates.
• Serve as the primary customer-facing owner—organizing project plans, aligning stakeholders, and delivering to the Statement of Work (SOW).
• Review and pressure-test customer specification documents, constructively challenging requirements to ensure they are sound and deliverable.
• Coordinate delivery across multiple internal cross-functional teams—including Product, Technology, Marketing, and Onboarding—to connect the dots and keep work moving between functions.
• Drive on-time delivery through tight timeline and risk management, anticipating issues and removing barriers before they reach the customer.
• Interrogate the soundness of internal delivery approaches and raise the quality bar where needed to protect customer commitments.
• Identify and implement the proper level of internal and external reporting for implementations, including key performance metrics and key risk indicator reporting to flag implementations at risk.
• Lead implementation communications, collaborating across internal cross-functional teams and external customers and partners to identify risks, resolve open issues, remove barriers, and handle general support inquiries.
• Identify and execute opportunities for process improvement and operational efficiency, helping turn bespoke, one-off delivery into repeatable practice.
• Complete other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, or a relevant field.
• 10+ years of experience owning complex, cross-functional, customer-facing delivery or implementations, with accountability for outcomes; experience in financial services, retirement, or wealth is a plus but not required; experience in a highly regulated industry is also preferred.
• 5+ years of experience specifically managing complex and innovative SaaS technology implementations.
• Demonstrated experience building bespoke solutions for customers on top of existing SaaS technology, coordinating multiple internal functions to deliver.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, particularly the ability to negotiate, influence, tell a story, bridge different vantage points, and gain consensus with stakeholders at all organizational levels.
• Technical literacy sufficient to read and challenge specification documents and judge the soundness of a delivery approach—without needing to build or configure the technology directly.
• Confidence and credibility facing off with sophisticated external customers, and the judgment to push back constructively on both customers and internal teams.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, PE-backed, high-growth environment—staying effective and keeping customer commitments on track as priorities, leadership, and organizational structure shift.
• Willingness to travel as needed to support customer commitments.
• Interest in and potential for people leadership as the function grows, with an entrepreneurial mindset to bring best-practice ideas to the team.
• Exhibits Great Gray attributes: Results-Driven, Innovative, Resilient, and Decisive.

Pay

Base pay range: $170,000–$200,000. This range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. Individual compensation within this range depends on factors such as prior education, relevant work experience, training, position location, and local market demands. Our pay-for-performance culture also includes participation in an annual incentive bonus plan for this position.

Benefits

• Be an integral part of a high-growth organization.
• Competitive compensation package.
• Group medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Employer-paid life and disability insurance.
• Annual well-being stipend.
• Eligible employees may contribute to a 401(k) plan with an advantageous employer contribution model.

About Great Gray

Great Gray is the leading independent provider of trustee and administrative services to Collective Investment Trusts (CITs), with over $370 billion in CIT assets under management across more than 1,020 funds. We work with over 80 subadvisors, including leading firms such as AllianceBernstein, American Funds, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, MetLife, Neuberger Berman, PGIM, PIMCO, and Raymond James.

CITs are tax-exempt, pooled investment vehicles offered to employer-sponsored retirement plans, like 401(k)s. They are comparable to mutual funds but tailored for the institutional retirement market, offering advantages such as efficient administration and cost-effectiveness. Great Gray has been at the forefront of CIT innovation, delivering consistent year-over-year growth and investing in complementary administrative services and technology solutions for the retirement market.

Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) purchased Great Gray from Wilmington Trust in April 2023, making Great Gray an independent company owned by funds affiliated with MDP. MDP is a leading private equity investment firm based in Chicago, with over $37 billion in aggregate capital raised since its formation in 1992.